The MMA year ends in hectic fashion with Strikeforce and the UFC going head to head at the beginning of the month whilst Sengoku and Dream compete to attract Japanese fight fans with New Year supershows. In between these promotional clashes, the UFC will presents what should be its latest 1million-plus pay per view fight in George St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck II. Check out all the big fights this months and where you can see them.
Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Sobral (4th December) – Showtime
- Dan Hendersonvs. Renato “Babalu” Sobral
- Paul Daley vs. Scott Smith
- Robbie Lawler vs. Matt Lindland
- Mike Kyle vs. Antonio Silva
- Benji Radach vs. Ovince St. Preux
The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale (4th December) – Spike TV
- Stephan Bonnar vs. Igor Pokrajac
- Jonathan Brookins vs. Michael Johnson (“TUF 12” Tournament Finals)
- Kendall Grove vs. Demian Maia
- Rick Story vs. Johny Hendricks
- Leonard Garcia vs. Nam Phan
UFC 124 (11th December) – PPV
- Champ Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck (for welterweight title)
- Sean McCorkle vs. Stefan Struve
- Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
- Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson
- Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
WEC 53: Henderson vs. Pettis – Versus
- Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis (for lightweight title)
- Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen (for bantamweight title)
- Donald Cerrone vs. Chris Horodecki
- Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
- Danny Downes vs. Tiequan Zhang
Sengoku: Soul of Fire (30th December) – HDNET
- Jadamba Narantungalag vs. Kazunori Yokota
- Yasubey Enomoto vs. Keita Nakamura
- Manabu Inoue vs. Shunichi Shimizu
- Taiyo Nakahara vs. Akitoshi Tamura
- Dave “Pee Wee” Herman vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
- Akihiro Gono vs. TBA
- Kazuo Misaki vs. TBA
- Maximo Blanco vs. TBA
- Hiroshi Izumi vs. TBA
- Masanori Kanehara vs. TBA
- Kazunori Yokota vs. TBA
Dynamite 2010 (31st December) – HDNET
- Bibiano Fernandes vs. Hiroyuki Takaya (for featherweight title)
Staff Picks: Fight To Watch
Chris’s Pick: Dominick Cruz vs. Scott Jorgensen
After his split decision WEC Bantamweight title defense win over Joseph Benavidez at WEC 50 in August, Cruz has cemented his status as the division’s top fighter. Cruz is currently riding a seven fight win streak, something that Scott Jorgensen will have to stop in order to stake claim as the the initial UFC Bantamweight champion. December 16th might be the swan song for WEC, but with the lighter weight classes swallowed into UFC, being gifted with high-speed fights such as this one will become the norm on UFC cards for years to come and while this won’t be the first fight at bantamweight in UFC, it’s the one I am most looking forward to (at least until Urijah Faber gets his inevitable title shot.)
Will’s Pick: George St. Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Despite what you may have heard, the first fight between George St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck was nowhere near close with a flash takedown making the fight seeming far more competitive than it actually was. This however shouldn’t obscure the fact that on paper Josh Koscheck should George St. Pierre’s sternest challenge at 170Ibs with the NCAA 174Ibs champion not only having the best wrestling credentials of anyone in the division but also packing genuine punching power. Koscheck should have the ability to counter the fearsome wrestling of St. Pierre and test the apparently suspect chin of the champion. The fact that he probably won’t be able to says more about the champion than it does the challenger.
